A Problem-Solution Approach to Substance Abuse

Abstract

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop wrote in 1995 that the most important gains in prolonging life have come not from miracles of diagnosis and treatment in the late 20th century, but from the community prevention successes in the late 19th and early 20th century:

[D]iseases are of two types: those we develop inadvertently and those we bring upon ourselves by failure to practice preventive measures. Preventable illness makes up approximately 70% of the burden of illness and associated costs. (Koop, 1995, p. 760)